CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Dr Crokes v Dingle

Sunday, April 29 at 2.30pm

(Austin Stack Park) 

Dingle are a good side. The bookies have them as second favourites to win the County Championship and their unblemished record in the Club Championship to date speaks for itself. It would certainly be unfair to call them a one-man team.

But in Paul Geaney the men from the west have one of the deadliest forwards in the country. If the Crokes are to secure a second consecutive Kerry Club Football Championship, they’ll need a special plan for the former All-Star forward. If current form is anything to go by, it’ll be easier said than done.

Geaney bagged six of Dingle’s eight goals in the group stage as they made relatively light work of Kenmare, Rathmore and Legion and if the reigning champions aren’t careful, the 27-year-old is more than capable of putting them to the sword.

The good news for the Crokes is that they have actually been extremely stingy in defence so far this year. The Lewis Road club have kept three straight clean sheets in the County League and altogether Shane Murphy has only been beaten three times in their six games up to this point. Keeping Geaney and Dingle goalless on Sunday would surely lead to a fifth Club Championship in seven years for Pat O’Shea’s men because, apart from that anomaly against Glenbeigh-Glencar (0-9 to 0-9) on the opening day of the league, they’ve registered at least 18 points in every game this season.

The finalists met in Páirc an Ághasaigh last week in the County League but a number of regulars were missing from both sides. Encouragingly for the Crokes, a number of youngsters made valuable contributions, most noticeably the prodigious David Shaw and Mark O’Shea who scored 1-2 and 1-1 respectively. Michael Potts also chipped in with three points and Jack Griffin came off the bench to add 0-2 as the visitors ran out 2-12 to 0-7 winners.

Colm Cooper was the only old head in the forward division, which was made up by Paul Clarke, Gavin O’Shea, Potts, Shaw and Mark O’Shea. The likes of Daithí Casey, Kieran O’Leary, Brian Looney and Tony Brosnan are likely to come back in for the decider but the new brigade did their chances of breaking into the starting 15 no harm at all.

Gooch and co. will undoubtedly be favourites to prevail but Dingle will have fond memories of the 2015 Club Championship final when they halted Crokes’ quest for four-in-a-row with a memorable 2-12 to 0-14 win. If their free-scoring talisman can continue his rich vein of form, another major upset could be on the cards – although it would also take a very bad day at the office from the Crokes.

Verdict: Crokes by six